Despite Aaron Judge's .444 average against him, Rays pitcher explains why his stats against Yankees captain are still a win for him

New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge is one of the most dominant hitters in the game and the two-time American League MVP is putting a solid case for a third title this season.

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Ryan Pepiot knows all about facing the reigning AL MVP. Judge is 4-for-9 against the Rays ace with an impressive .444 batting average.

Despite his shaky record against the Yankees captain, Pepiot highlighted not conceding a home run to Judge as a win for him. He said on the "Hold My Ball Podcast," hosted by Jake Savicki (12:00 onwards):

"Yeah, absolutely," Pepiot said on not conceding a homer against Judge a win. "You're just trying to keep him in the yard because he's going to put up 50-60 homers a year. You just don't want to give up one of them, you know.

The Rays ace also talked about the difficulty of pitching a high ball to Aaron Judge because of his stature. Pepiot recalled Judge dismantling a high fastball from him during one of his plate appearances against him earlier this season.

After a blistering start to the season, batting around .400, Aaron Judge has hit a slump in June. He is batting .354 with 28 home runs and 68 RBIs, and despite his slump, he can still win a third MVP title.

Ryan Pepiot makes worst start of Rays career in Orioles thrashing

Ryan Pepiot had been solid for the Rays this season until he faced the Baltimore Orioles on Friday. Pepiot had a 1.64 ERA in his six previous starts before Friday's game.

However, it all went south for the Rays pitcher rather quickly as he conceded four earned runs in just 1.2 innings, his shortest start of the season. His horror night started a remarkable comeback from the Orioles, who came back from 6-0 down to win 22-8.

Edited by Chaitanya Prakash